A quasi-civilian government that replaced outright military rule in 2011 has sought to stem the flood of timber from the country with a ban on the export of raw logs which took effect on April 1.

“Our ban will be very effective. There will be cutting, distribution and finishing of timber products locally, so that we can also increase employment opportunities,” said the director general of the Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry, Tin Tun.

Wildlife group WWF said the biggest driver of forest loss has been large-scale conversion for agriculture, often after woodland is degraded by logging or the collection of wood for fuel.

It welcomed the export ban and said the government has also slashed quotas for teak and other hardwoods by 60 percent and 50 percent respectively for the coming fiscal year compared to 2012/13.

“But given the high volume of illegal logging and exports in Myanmar, it will take a long time before we see how effective the ban will be,” said WWF's Myanmar conservation program manager Michelle Owen.

Appetite for Destruction

In mountainous northern Myanmar close to the Chinese border, logging roads score the landscape as firms drive ever deeper into pristine forests.

“Stopping logging has to happen now,” said Frank Momberg of conservation group Flora and Fauna International, which is struggling to protect the newly discovered and critically endangered Myanmar snub nosed monkey.

There are thought to be barely 300 of the flat-faced primates left in the dense forests of Kachin state at the eastern tip of the Himalayas.

This photo taken on April 7 shows workers washing down next to logs piled up on a barge on a river near Yangon. Logging in Myanmar exploded under the former junta, as the generals tossed aside sustainable forestry practices in their thirst to cash in on vast natural resources. (AFP)